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Icahn vs Yang - Watch Your Back

Today I read with interest Carl Icahn's letter to Jerry Yang of Yahoo. I haven't kept that close of tabs on the possible Microsoft-Yahoo deal other than the fact that Yang turned down several offers. Apparently, he also implemented a poison pill allowing employees to leave the company in the case of a hostile takeover. Icahn's scathing letter is a clear example of how professional investors and money managers work. They will rock you if you try to mess with them.

Icahn owns a ton of shares and has enlisted the who's who of activist investors to buy in. These guys own a chunk of Yahoo now and want Yang out. Yang has no clue what and who he is up against. Now there is blood in the water and the sharks are circling. This is looking like it will likely go down badly for Yang and could potentially mar his legacy as the founder of Yahoo but also the one who was too stubborn to give in to Big Brother. Kind of reminds me of Hillary Clinton at this point.

This is also another example of what may happen when a founder stays on board or comes back as CEO. He or she is so in love with their little child that is all grown up. They fail to realize that when you are a publicly listed company it is not about changing the world anymore - it is about profits and money and that is what shareholders want. They do not want promises.